READY OR NOT - HERE I COME (9 OF 10)

Ready or Not - Here I Come (9 of 10)
Series: The Model Church
Jerry Watts
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

(Video - Opening Sequence to ''Thief in the Night'') Jesus is coming again! People don't believe this, people dismiss this, and people even attempt to ignore it, but listen, Jesus is coming again. And when Jesus comes again, He said that two will be together, one taken, and one will be left.

As we have worked our way through Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, it is worth noting that EACH of the 5 chapters ends some reference to the Coming of the Lord (1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23), so the return of Jesus was one of Paul's driving forces. Here it is again, ''Jesus is coming again!'' (TEXT)

When I was a kid, before the land of technology, we played a game which we thought was fun. It was called ''Hide and Seek.'' One person was ''It!'' If you remember, here's how it was played: ''It'' covered his/her eyes and counted to something like 20. While the audible counting continued, everyone else went and hid. When ''It'' had finished counting they shouted, ''READY OR NOT, HERE I COME.'' 'And the search began.' The players knew that the time was coming when 'it' would be coming to find them - and they didn't want to be found. In fact, they wanted to hide until they could slip back and get safe on 'base.' So they had to make plans and preparations for the impending coming. You got the picture? Jesus is coming again - do you get the parallel? Chapter 4 tells us that with the cry and the trumpet call of God, Jesus Himself will descend, 'Ready or not.'

To read this text is to understand that Paul writes a complete message. He writes a message to ''YOU'' - the local church (vs 1,2,4-5a); to them - those outside of His grace (Vs 3,7); and finally for ''US/WE'' -which is a combination of that local church and the universal church (V5b,6,8-10). This is a message for everybody. Jesus is coming, ready or not, so what can we do to be ready? Two basics

Be Realistic - Ho ...

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